On the Subject of Assassins

[Royal Blood]

In regards to builds, there are a few mixed builds that I think make them competitive in combat but when pray exists it certainly negates a lot of potential for a proper assassination. So, I think the only practical application of an assassin short of a long deliberate set up of a target, is to be with a group which idk in my opinion sort of makes it less assassiny

I think true strike and knock down are more formidable than trying to rely on saves. That's just like a bonus I guess if your poison happens to work. Still, the target can pray out of it and idk if you don't time it right will probably just G-sanc and run/teleport.

I think the class could be buffed but it holds significant mechanical power that I think would quickly be abused by power gamers who charade as a role player in exchange for continual pvp.

Maybe some way to better lock down a target could be ideal like a way to disrupt a key line or something

[Gouge Away]

So what if the ineffective and barely used contract system was dropped and the lax PVP rules of assassins were rescinded but the class was opened to anyone without a token? So it could just be an evil and mystical rogue variant instead of whatever it is now.

[Royal Blood]

I don't think the pvp rules are shady they seem fairly straightforward.

The assassin can unseat settlement leaders or knock them out of an election so they are very 'powerful' in that regard. But the assassin doesn't have to make the kill it just has to be present and use it's tool. So in that sense it ought to remain restricted. And I have seen assassin's used to usurp power. It is rare, but it happens.

I like the assassin being restricted because if it's just another rogue build why bother? It has a uniqueness to it but it could use some work I guess. I'll have a better idea once mine is more potent.

[Aelryn Bloodmoon]

This is all assuming the person who is the target doesn't pay off the contract or hide indoors as soon as they get the console warning about them being a target for assassination.

Also, as an assassin, the onus is on you to ensure that the RP is fun for everyone involved. While your above example does satisfy in my eyes the RP required for an assassin to strike...it sounds decidedly un-fun for the person who gets slain.

If the person pays off the contract as soon as they get the console warning, to me, it sounds like they're choosing to opt out of the assassin RP, for a cost. I'm inclined to think as an assassin the onus is to respect that boundary - for whatever reason the player is willing to pay gold to not be assassinated in their RP, and if a second contract went up after the first was paid off, I wouldn't take it, because they clearly don't want that and there's no way they're going to enjoy it.

On the other hand, if someone allows the bounty to remain long enough for a persona established for the sake of the kill to befriend them them to the point of being set upon by resting- well, if I were the victim, I'd be okay with it. It generally is a bit of a blow when you lose PvP no matter the circumstances, I think, for most people- but if I had fun leading up to it- which I apparently enjoyed their company up to that point if I felt I was going to rest in front of them- I'd take solace in the fact that they gave me solid interaction beforehand and left me plenty of narrative room to pursue further angles.

You can have fun leading up to a loss without enjoying the loss, and not be a bad person for it. Not enjoying being in a losing mechanical situation isn't the same thing as being a bad sport, how you react to it is what matters. Putting in a good faith effort to give your victim extended interaction before the kill (preferably over multiple days) is, in my opinion, something that should be encouraged, and the Rules are set up to reward that kind of assassination pretty heavily, IMO.

If you're feeling particularly brave, you might even let the other player in on the entire thing OOC to make a more dramatic IC scene for those involved.

But I live in a world of sunshine and rainbows, or so I've occasionally been told, so your mileage may vary.

And saying "Just RP and prepare better" is kind of an absurd stance to have when it comes to balance. What, should we deliberately make some classes weaker to encourage them to get friends not playing that class?

Sort of. In this case, "RP and preparing" better specifically meets a condition necessary for a mechanical benefit of being able to attack someone with no immediate warning as they're resting. Following this condition puts you in a mechanically superior starting position in the fight compared to any other class available on Arelith in a PvP situation. This is the only class that gets to RP for a direct mechanical advantage in a fight.

While I see how some see drawbacks, I see opportunities that extend days or possibly weeks prior to and after a successful kill in a narrative fashion, with a healthy dose of interaction for the victim to enjoy along the way. If, during the journey, the assassin happens to be good at their job, that's unfortunate for the victim- but the victim is a character, not a player.